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The panel will hear testimony on current fire service legislation in front of Congress, most notably on H.R. 1168, the Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement (FIRE) Act.

The Fire Bill was introduced in the House by Representatives by Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) and Curt Weldon (R-PA) on March 17 and in the Senate by Senators Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Mike DeWine (R-OH) on November 17, 1999.

This legislation would help correct the history of the federal government's lack of commitment to the fire service. It will attempt to give firefighters the level of funding the federal government has provided to law enforcement, educators, and other professionals.

For fiscal year 1999, the federal government will spend approximately $32 million on fire prevention and training. Comparatively, the federal government will spend over $11 billion on law enforcement.

The FIRE Bill would authorize $5 billion in competitive grants to fire departments over 5 years. It would provide grants to fire departments for training, EMS expenses, apparatus, communications, wellness/fitness programs, PPE, infrastructure modification, personnel, certification of fire inspectors, fire prevention programs and public education.

The grants would be available to volunteer, paid, and combination departments and fire departments would have to match 10 percent of the grant to be eligible.

The panel will also discuss H.R. 3155, the Firefighter's Local-Federal Assistance for Management of Emergencies (FLAME) Act.

The FLAME Act, introduced on October 27 by Rep. George Gekas (R-PA), would help volunteer fire companies struggling to pay enormous debts for equipment by establishing an $11 million per year grant program to provide assistance to emergency response organizations in states that have in effect an emergency response loan program.

The FLAME act would distribute federal grants through these programs of up to $15,000, or equal to what the company receives through voluntary contributions and local government and municipality grants. Available FLAME Act funds would total $22 million and would be drawn from existing accounts under the U.S. Department of Transportation.